Page 113 of Abel's Omega
When I peeked in, Beatrice was the only pup left in the bed, still soundly sleeping.
Now, where are you two?I went down the stairs, careful on the slanted step three from the bottom, and followed the chatter of puppy voices into the kitchen.
Fan and Beatrice were perched on chairs at a low table in the corner, eating cereal. My mother was at the stove, and the smell and sizzle of sausages suddenly filled the air.
She looked over her shoulder. “You’re up early.”
“I had to pee,” I told her, and decided maybe I’d stay up. I was awake now anyway.
I opened my mouth to say something, I don’t remember what, when Uncle Mitchel came in through the back door. Something in his expression stopped me from asking what he was here for and instead, I asked, “Do I need to get Abel?”
He nodded. “I need to talk to both of you.”
My heart sped up and I hurried up the stairs. “Abel,” I whispered, and shook his shoulder. “Uncle Mitchel is downstairs and he needs to talk to us. Both of us.”
Abel was awake in an instant, and it only took a couple of minutes before we were both dressed and back down in the kitchen. Mam looked horrible, like she’d heard the worst news ever, and she wouldn’t meet my eyes. I looked around for the pups, then relaxed when I heard them playing outside the back door.
I grabbed for Abel’s arm, and he patted my hand. “Just let them try and take you from me.”
“Or Jason,” I whispered, and sank down onto the chair he led me to.
Abel sat next to me, but he kept one of my hands in his. “So, he took it to Council?”
Uncle Mitchel nodded. “He’s going to try to get everyone worked up against you. You’ll have to move fast. They’re calling for it in mid-October, just before full moon.”
Just before full moon. Without thinking, I blurted out, “So that whoever they give Jason to can get a pup on him right away.”
Uncle Mitchel looked at me in surprise. “Yes, that’s exactly what I suspect.” He continued to look at me like I was a chair that had suddenly sat up and complained about being sat on.
“Jason tends to early heats,” I said, and turned to Abel. “We need to send Mac home, now.” Then I blushed, because you didn’t discuss heats in public.
Abel squeezed my hand. “It’s only September. And mid-October is still too early, if I remember correctly.” Abel didn’t blush, and suddenly I remembered that Jason had come to Mercy Hills intending to mate Abel. It was a strange feeling.
“We should go home.” We’d planned to spend another couple of days, but now there was no time.
Uncle Mitchel shook his head. “This brings me to the other piece of news. You can’t go today. Usher killed himself last night.”
I went still, in frozen shock. “What…Why?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. He had everything an omega could ask for—good mate, plenty of money, no real responsibilities. It’s hard to say.”
Except he hadn’t had everything an omega could ask for.
“Oh,” I whispered, and covered my mouth with my hands before any untoward accusations could launch themselves into the open. Abel put his arm around my shoulders and held me while I shook with so many emotions I couldn’t tell the terror from the fury or the guilt.
Uncle Mitchel spoke again. “They’re laying him out at Boris’ house.”
I took a couple of harsh, noisy breaths through my nose, then lowered my hand. “I should go help.” I nearly choked on the words. This was my fault, at least partly. If I’d recognized the signs… Looking back, I could see his discontent clearly, and his desperate flirting and drinking took on new meaning. I staggered to my feet. “I’ll ask Mam to look after the pups,” I told Abel.
He stood and kept me from running off. “This wasn’t your fault.”
He blurred in front of me until I blinked the tears away. “I should have known something was wrong, from the way he was acting. No omega is like that, not unless they’re miserable.”
“Now, Bax,” my uncle said. “Usher was just as wild as you were, he just didn’t have a mate that would put any limits on him like you did. If he’d had someone who was a little stricter with him, he might not have had these problems.”
Abel caught me before I could throw the punch I started, which was just as well. I’m not sure how I’d tolerate being beaten now, after living these months in Mercy Hills. I let him hustle me out into the hallway and up the stairs and by the time we’d reached the top, I’d calmed down enough to realize I was going to have to make amends. “I’m sorry,” I told him, and really meant it. “I’ll go apologize.”
“I’ll handle it.” He cradled me against his chest, and I let the steady beat of his heart beneath my ear calm me some more. When most of the tightness had left my body, he rubbed his hands over my back and put me from him. “Are you sure you want to go over there?”
